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| Linking Memory Items |
Linking Memory Items
When you store an item of information in your memory, it is automatically linked to other items already in memory. This is a fundamental concept. Memory items do not exist in isolation. New memory items are always linked to older memory items.
When you store an item of information in your memory, it is automatically linked to other items already in memory. This is a fundamental concept. Memory items do not exist in isolation. New memory items are always linked to older memory items.
The links between memory items are essential in the remembering process. For example, when you have difficulty recalling a person's name, a common strategy is to recall other items associated with the person. Where and when did you meet this person? What were you doing at the time? Were there other people present? As you recall these items, you are searching for a link to the memory item containing the person's name.
When you first hear the news of a momentous event, that occasion is strongly linked in your memory with your circumstances at that moment. You often hear people say, ‘I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard about ….’.
The constructive linking of memory items is vital to the learning process. If you systematically categorize and link new memory items as they are encountered, then over time you will build an efficient and effective library of memory items. Storing new items and retrieving items upon demand will then be a relatively simple task.
However, if you pay little attention to learning and neglect the creation of appropriate links for new information, then your library of memories will tend to be chaotic. In a chaotic memory, retrieving old items upon demand becomes a challenging task. The creation of efficient and effective memories is a cumulative process – an habitual way of thinking.
Advertisers make frequent use of repetition and association in an effort to to create links in your memories. Advertisements for a product are deliberately repeated in the media, over and over again. And the product is almost always presented in association with happy, healthy people having a good time. Then when consumers think of having a good time, memory links often lead to memories of the advertisements – leading the consumers to consider buying those products. (Also note that most video advertisements are less than 30 seconds long – advertising moguls may, or may not, be up to date with the latest in cognitive science but they do know what works.)
Fortunately, you can use the techniques of advertising to create and design your own sets of memory links. The process involves three simple steps: emphasis, association, and repetition. When you decide that information is important, it is given emphasis.
When you compare, contrast, and organize information, you are creating associations.
And when you repeat the emphasis and associations, the links become stronger.
When you first hear the news of a momentous event, that occasion is strongly linked in your memory with your circumstances at that moment. You often hear people say, ‘I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard about ….’.
The constructive linking of memory items is vital to the learning process. If you systematically categorize and link new memory items as they are encountered, then over time you will build an efficient and effective library of memory items. Storing new items and retrieving items upon demand will then be a relatively simple task.
However, if you pay little attention to learning and neglect the creation of appropriate links for new information, then your library of memories will tend to be chaotic. In a chaotic memory, retrieving old items upon demand becomes a challenging task. The creation of efficient and effective memories is a cumulative process – an habitual way of thinking.
Advertisers make frequent use of repetition and association in an effort to to create links in your memories. Advertisements for a product are deliberately repeated in the media, over and over again. And the product is almost always presented in association with happy, healthy people having a good time. Then when consumers think of having a good time, memory links often lead to memories of the advertisements – leading the consumers to consider buying those products. (Also note that most video advertisements are less than 30 seconds long – advertising moguls may, or may not, be up to date with the latest in cognitive science but they do know what works.)
Fortunately, you can use the techniques of advertising to create and design your own sets of memory links. The process involves three simple steps: emphasis, association, and repetition. When you decide that information is important, it is given emphasis.
When you compare, contrast, and organize information, you are creating associations.
And when you repeat the emphasis and associations, the links become stronger.
